Definitely want to climb it. Looks like a grand adventure. I've heard the route most commonly done is loose 5.7 and quite meandering. Are you located on the rez? Would you know how to do it semi legitimately, or who to ask? This would be a pretty hard one to poach since its located right off the main highway.

Last time I drove though there (early June), dust covered the entire road in several places and intermittent poor visibility was punctuated with a breif moment of no visibility. I found dust in unexpected places in our truck afterward too. Nice views otherwise though, aside from the actual town.

lcarreau wrote:Is this another one of those threads where people post their comment, then a lurker or avatar comes out of nowhere and calls them a shithead ???

Guess it depends if you're going there as a true climber or a true dirt bag tourist. I would probably fall in the latter category.

This is a thread where somebody could easily call one of us a shithead for wanting to, talking about, thinking about, dreaming about, or actually climbing on the rez. Who will be the first to post an essay on how we're jeopardizing climbing access and the image of climbers by climbing "sacred" monuments?!?

The Navajo Nation seems to be amenable to general tourist activities including hiking and camping just about anywhere on the rez as long as it's not someone's front yard or an obviously sacred spot. You might try calling the Navajo Tourist Bureau in Cameron and asking. However, the person who answers the phone may not be aware specifically of Agathla Peak, so getting a firm answer if it's sacred or not is still hard to come by.

I have had good luck with access on the Navajo res, either alone or with others. There are anecdotal stories of people being chased off by locals. I'm sure it happens, but there is no broad restriction against "recreation" on the Navajo res like there seems to be on every other reservation in the state.

Their attitude might change regarding the spire peaks in and around Monument Valley, of which Agathla would count (it's "close enough"). I would be curious what you find out. I know the peaks specifically within the Monument Valley are generally closed to climbers, but I think that's a function of the amount of tourists who go there, and that people still live within this valley. Agathla is set apart from the main grouping of spires in MV. Other than driving by it, I don't know what to tell you there.

As an aside, we've picked up permits each time when we've ventured onto the res, and we tell them where we plan to be and they almost never ask any follow-up questions. The permits aren't "carte-blanche" to go wherever you want to go, though. However, a few times we've driven up to some locals out doing their rounds, and out of respect, I'll approach them and let them know what we're up to, and every single time they are friendly and amused that we're asking them for permission. They take a different view of the land than we do. While they regard it sacred in the broad sense, they don't fence the hell out of it like you might find in the lands around Prescott or down by the Chiricahuas, nor do they act like wannabe land barons. As long as it's clear we're not up to no good, they generally are pleasant and don't mind our presence.

Lionel wrote:Other than the issues for outsiders, no one seems to have beta on the route they are willing to share? OK. BTW, living here, I do Black and Skeleton Mesa a lot. No one is out patrolling. I never encounter anyone, in fact.

I have not climbed Agathla, and would be very interested in any info on it.

How are the roads to Skeleton? I have not visited there before.

Other peaks/areas on my short list up there include the Bear Peaks (near the NM line), the Sonsala Buttes, and Fluted Rock. I'll wait until things warm up first.

Check out Bjornstad's out-of-print Desert Rock, there are topos for Agathla in there. It's pretty hard to come by. If you have trouble finding it, let me know and I can photo copy and send you the necessary pages, as I get get it at CU's library.